


The World Feels Different To Me

by everywinter



Series: The Ordeal of Being Known [1]
Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Loosely based on the new Teen Wolf series, M/M, The Jaepil is just a passing thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 16:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15223250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everywinter/pseuds/everywinter
Summary: “It’s like we’re living in some weird teen drama. Wonpillie gets bitten by a werewolf, Sungjin starts developing weird visions and finding dead bodies, your boyfriend's family is the Korean version of the Winchesters, and you find out from your mom that you’re descended from a literally ancient bloodline of fox demons.”“Yep.” Brian repeated, popping the last letter. “Fuck California, I should have stayed in Toronto.”





	The World Feels Different To Me

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from GOT7's You Are, which I listened to on repeat when I wrote this because I'm a sap.

“So,” Jae began slowly from where he lay next to Brian on his bed. “your boyfriend’s a monster hunter, huh.”

 

“Yep.”

 

“It’s like we’re living in some weird teen drama. Wonpillie gets bitten by a werewolf, Sungjin starts developing weird visions and finding dead bodies, your boyfriend's family is the Korean version of the Winchesters, and you find out from your mom that you’re descended from a literally ancient bloodline of fox demons.”

 

“Yep.” Brian repeated, popping the last letter. “Fuck California, I should have stayed in Toronto.”

 

Jae shoved Brian with his shoulder. “Then you wouldn’t have met any of us.”

 

“Yeah, I guess,” He rolled over to look at Jae. “but then I also wouldn’t have met Dowoon and we wouldn’t be stuck in this situation.”

 

“True.” Jae said with a wince. “Life has just gotten weirder and weirder since you figured out that you could set things on fire with your brain. I know they said puberty would change us, but damn, turning seventeen was really a milestone.”

 

“You hit puberty in your early teens, dumbass.”

 

“That’s seriously what you’re going to fixate on?”

 

“Better than how my first real relationship is going to come to a super dramatic, explosion of an ending. Literally. My boyfriend busted out of the treeline and shot a flaming werewolf through the eye with an arrow.”

 

“Oh shit.” Jae popped up in the bed, looking down at Brian with wide, worried eyes. “Do you think the hunters know about Sungjin and Wonpil?”

 

“They haven’t done anything wrong, I don’t think we really need to worry. Wonpil cried after you hit that magpie with your car, he’d never hurt anyone. And Sungjin’s powers seem to mostly extend to the already dead.” Brian said hesitantly, “Maybe he’ll just keep it to himself. We’ll leave him alone, he’ll leave us alone.”

 

“That seems like it’d be a little hard considering every single one of us shares at least one class with him.” Jae added, “And are you really satisfied with letting your relationship end like that? You told me you were in love with him.”

 

“I was. I am.” Brian corrected, “But his family hunts people like me for living. I know he said they only hunt the ones who hurt humans, but well... They’re literal monster hunters and I’m one of the literal monsters.”

 

“Not in the ways that matter. Even though you can burst into flames, you’re still Brain. You still act like an annoying parrot, eat all of the popcorn when we go to the movies, and take really embarrassing videos of me sleep talking.” Jae flops back onto the bed, glasses pressing into his cheek. “Your love life is weird as hell though.”

 

“You’re being courted by a werewolf. Are you trying to tell me that isn’t weird at all?”

 

“No one’s courting anyone.” Jae wiggled closer to Brain. “Wonpil hasn’t even talked to me since everything hit the fan last week.”

 

“And by hit the fan you mean Wonpil kissed you and then you ran away?”

 

“Dude, I’d literally just thrown a Molotov cocktail at an insane werewolf thing and burned it to death. I was sort of in shock. I’m still feeling it a little.”

 

Brian put his hand on Jae’s boney shoulder and gave him a firm squeeze, the haunted look in Jae’s eyes mirrored in his own. Even though there hadn’t been a trace of humanity in the rogue werewolf by the time they’d faced it, what they’d done still haunted Brian. He hadn’t been the one to set the creature aflame, and he hadn’t dealt the killing blow, but he’d coxed the fire hotter and hotter, urging the flames to curl around the body until there was nothing left but ash. He hadn’t been able to stomach the smell of cooking meat since.

 

“Well, you’ve also been avoiding him like the plague, so I don’t really know what you expected.” Brain wrinkled his nose, trying to ease the tension. “Speaking of which, you really need to start showing up to class again. I told Mrs. Lee that you had a stomach ache last time, but she looked really annoyed and she’ll probably call your mom if you skip again.”

 

Jae groaned and threw his arm over his forehead. “I can’t believe that out of the five of us, I’m the only one who doesn’t have something cool to fall back on. Turns out even Dowoon has ninja training. I’m just 145lbs of fragile skin and bone. All I have is my razor-sharp wit.”

 

“It isn’t ninja training-”

 

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD.” Jae’s scream of terror scared Brian so badly, he hit his head against his side table.

 

“- I have hunter training, it’s different. I could probably teach you some of it if you wanted.” Dowoon climbed through Brian’s window nonchalantly, legs dangling over the edge the same way he’d done countless times before. It all of a sudden occurred to Brian that Dowoon probably never asked him to sneak over to his house because his parents had booby-traps all over the windows or something.

 

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Jae had a hand over his heaving chest and was giving Dowoon a look between admiration and fear. “This body’s built for loving, not fighting.”

 

“You might not have much of a choice if you’re planning on sticking around Beacon Hills. This town’s earned its name and trouble’s bound to find you sooner or later. You need to figure out a way to defend yourself.” Dowoon gave Jae a meaningful look. “For your friends’ sake if not your own.”

 

Jae’s eyes narrowed. “Is that a threat? My mom’s the sheriff and I don’t take kindly to threats.”

 

“It’s not a threat, stupid.” Dowoon rolled his eyes. “We’re friends, why would I threaten you? I’m just saying, if everyone’s always busy protecting you, they won’t be able to properly defend themselves. I know you don’t want to be a liability, so I’m offering you the opportunity to learn a new skill and be helpful.”

 

“Are we?” Jae shot back, “Friends, I mean. We’ve known you for three years and you never told us your family hunted supernatural things. You didn’t even say anything when Wonpil got bitten freshman year!”

 

Dowoon shifted guiltily. “I know, and I’m sorry, but there’s a code I have to follow. I can’t just tell whoever I want about these kinds of things. I asked my mom, but she said no, and she’s the matriarch. What she says, goes. But we wouldn’t have just let you guys flounder! If Pil hadn’t figured out his werewolf issue, we would have sent a mentor your way.”

 

“What about the rogue then? Were you just going to ‘keep an eye on that’ too?” Jae crossed his arms. “I don’t like this weird League of Shadows shit. Sungjin was concussed and had to get seven stitches! He could have died!”

 

“I wouldn’t have let that happen.” Dowoon said, “I would sooner have died myself than let something happen to you guys.”

 

He looked so serious that it made something in Brian’s heart clench and he scrunched his nose to distract himself from the sting of tears that rushed to his eyes. They couldn’t even legally buy a beer and they were talking about dying for each other in the literal sense.

 

 _We should be arguing about stupid things like if the girl from the drive-through last week was flirting with Sungjin or Jae._ He thought to himself, blinking the tears from his eyes. _Instead, we’re talking about getting Jae military level combat training so he doesn’t get killed. Jae doesn’t even know to use a kitchen knife properly._

 

“Okay, that’s excessive.” Jae reached out and ruffled Dowoon’s curly head of hair, making it even messier than before. “I thought the point was that no one needed to die. I believe you, Dowoonie.”

 

“Geeze, you’re easily swayed.” Dowoon pretended to be annoyed, but Brian could see the pleased curve to his lips. “Think about it though. Some training would do you good and I wouldn’t mind having a partner.”

 

“And your parents are okay with this?”

 

“I wouldn’t be offering if they weren’t.”

 

“I’ll think about it.” Jae grabbed a hoodie, one of Brian’s, from off his desk. “I’m borrowing this, I’ll give it back at school tomorrow.”

 

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Brian’s voice cracked at the last word and he could see Dowoon’s ears start to slowly turn red.

 

“Yeah, I should probably give you guys some alone time.” Jae ignored the panicked looks Brian shot his way. “I’ll catch you guys later.”

 

The door of Brian’s room slammed shut, leaving a deafening silence behind. Dowoon was bright red, his previous ease disappearing with Jae, and Brian felt equally as uncomfortable.

 

“Do you wanna-”

 

“Can I-”

 

The both of them stopped speaking again, staring at each other awkwardly.

 

“You first.”

 

Dowoon gestured to the bed. “Can I come sit down?”

 

“Of course.” Brian smoothed out the covers. “I wasn’t going to let you just sit on the windowsill. It’d be hard to explain to my parents if you fell backwards or something.”

 

“Always looking out for me.” Brian caught a glimpse of Dowoon’s bottom braces when he grinned, before his expression turned serious again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I couldn’t. We’d only just moved into town and my mom was still trying to set up connections and get an idea of what we were dealing with… We weren’t even sure we were going to stay past this school year.”

 

Brian didn’t say anything, picking at the tag on his comforter.

 

“I swear, I wanted to tell you.” Dowoon said quietly, “Brian, please, look at me. Say something, please.”

 

“I really don’t know what to say. Have you,” He took a deep breath, looking into Dowoon’s eyes. “had you killed anyone before that night?”

 

“It wasn’t a ‘someone’ anymore. At that point it was barely even sentient. Rogues that far gone don’t have any thoughts beyond hunting and killing. They don’t remember what they used to be, who they used to be. I was hoping we’d be able to find it before it reached that point, but we did the humane thing by putting it out of its misery.” Dowoon’s voice was even, but his eyes were sad. “But to answer your question, no, I’ve never killed anyone.”

 

There was a lump in Brian’s throat that made his voice come out thick. “Do your parents know about me? About us?”

 

“They do, they’ve always known, and they’re fine with it.” Dowoon flushed. “They like you. They think you’re a nice boy, respectful and responsible.”

 

“I see…”

 

“Does this have to change things between us?” Dowoon sounded as desperate as Brian felt. “Can’t we just exist separately from this? Maybe if we just don’t talk about it.”

 

“It doesn’t work that way, you know it doesn’t.” He rubbed at his nose. “Things are already different. You already feel different.”

 

“Do you want to break up?” Dowoon was crying, wiping at his eyes with his hoodie.

 

“No!” Brian handed Dowoon the box of tissues on his desk. “No… Unless you want to break up?”

 

Dowoon shook his head furiously. His eyes were all swollen and he blew his nose wetly before grabbing another tissue. His hair was still a mess from when Jae had ruffled it earlier and there was bark on his hoddie from the tree he’d climbed up to get to Brian’s window. Dowoon looked young, small, and nothing like the young man who’d fearlessly faced up against an eight foot tall monster with nothing but a bow and arrow and four other teenagers for backup.

 

Brian grabbed his fleece blanket (there were illustrations from The Little Prince printed all over it and Jae always made fun of it, but stole it during every sleepover they’d ever had) and wrapped it around Dowoon’s shoulders. He looked like a little boy with a cape and Brain smoothed the hair out of his face.

 

“I still love you.” Brian whispered; close enough that he could feel Dowoon’s breath on his face. “I wish we could just be normal, dumb teenagers in love.”

 

They’d kissed before, under the bleachers, in the backseat of Jae’s jeep, even in this bed, but something about this kiss felt completely different. Maybe because they were different. Brian certainly felt different. There was an edge of desperation, the need to prove that he was alive, that had never been there before.

 

Brian licked salt from his lips when they pulled back and realized that the tears were his when Dowoon raised the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe at his eyes. “I’ll take care of you, I promise.”

 

He laughed wetly, pulling Dowoon into a hug. “You use prehistoric weaponry, I can make things spontaneously combust with a thought, I feel like I should be taking care of you.”

 

“You do take care of me.” Dowoon ran his fingers through Brian’s hair and he let himself close his eyes and lean his forehead against broad shoulders. “You always take such good care of me. You remind me to do my homework, walk me home when I forget my umbrella; you even tie my shoelaces for me when they come undone.”

 

“You always do the knots wrong.”

 

Dowoon pulled Brian in for another kiss, less desperate, more gentle and heartfelt. “It’s okay to be scared. All of this is scary, but I’ve got you. Jae, Wonpil, Sungjin, and I’ve got you.”

 

Brian let Dowoon tuck him into the bed. _How does he always end up taking care of me instead?_

“Stay.”

 

He grabbed the edge of the blanket and Dowoon snuggled under the covers with him. “I can’t for long, it’s a school night.” Dowoon’s eyes were already drifting closed. “My parents know I’m here.”

 

“Then they won’t have to worry about you.” Brian wrapped his arms around Dowoon’s waist. “Jae’s driving tomorrow, we’ll just swing by your house for your stuff before school. Stay.”

 

When the two of them were woken up the next morning, greeted by Jae’s smug grin, the only thing Brian could think was that he’s never felt safer than in Dowoon’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to just be a Dowoon/YoungK fic, but Jaepil seems to work its way into literally everything, so I just decided to let it.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
